US government shutdown likely to end this week, White House adviser Hassett says

WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The 20-day U.S. federal government shutdown is likely to end this week, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday.

"I think the Schumer shutdown is likely to end sometime this week," White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said in an interview on CNBC, referring to Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.

Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, said his "friends in the Senate" believed it was "bad optics for Democrats to open the government before the 'No Kings' rallies and that now there's a shot that this week things will come together."

Protesters from all age groups took to the streets for "No Kings" rallies across the United States on Saturday, denouncing what they view as authoritarian tendencies and unbridled corruption of U.S. President Donald Trump.

With the protests done, Hassett said that if the shutdown does not end, the White House would consider additional cost-cutting action.

"We've been basically hearing from moderates that, look, we just can't do it in front of the 'No Kings' rally. If that ends up not being true, then I think that the White House is going to have to look very closely, along with (White House budget director) Russ Vought, at stronger measures that we could take to bring it to the table."